3M Finds Robust Fiber LAN Market for VF-45

More than 30 manufacturers are now supplying components and networking equipment using 3M's (St. Paul, MN) VF-45 fiber interface, the company reports. Officials at 3M note that the increase in sales is due to the growing number of enterprises who anticipate their bandwidth requirements are going to increase at exponential rates for the foreseeable future.

The latest additions to the VF-45 customer list include Waters Network Systems (Rochester, NH) and Unicom (Chicago, IL). Waters recently announced its Pro-Switch Ethernet switching products available with the VF-45 interface. Unicom announced that its Dyna-Switch and Flex-Switch lines of switches now support the VF-45 interface.

3M's Volition Network Solution, a complete fiber LAN system based on the VF-45 design, includes fiber NICs, specialty patch cables, and all the products needed to deploy a complete fiber optic LAN.

In the past, fiber cost three to seven times more than copper cabling. Enabled by the VF-45 small form factor connector and networking gear that uses this low-cost interface, 3M calculates that fiber now commands only a 12% to 18% cost premium over copper cabling.

Edited by Meredith Lockard